Robotics market
US auto plants installed 13,700 robots, the top US robot buyer
13,700 robots went into US automotive plants in the most recent operating year, up 10.7%, which keeps the car industry the single largest customer for robots in the United States. Nothing else in the country comes close to that count.
Behind it, metal and machinery took 3,800 units for an 11% share, and electrical and electronics took 2,900 units. Two sectors that draw a lot of automation coverage still sit well below the automotive line.
This page traces the US industry split to the IFR's own release and flags the one mistake to avoid: reading these installations as a national total when they are the car-industry slice. Every figure below points at that single release, so you can open it and check the number yourself.
Data covers IFR press release on US industrial robot installations by industry (World Robotics 2025 / 2024 operating year). Published 2026-07-25. Last reviewed 2026-07-25. Last updated 2026-07-25. Edited by Mike Ramsey / Reliable Media.
The figures and where they come from
Each figure is rated for how safely you can cite it today. Ratings judge current usability, not whether a number was ever correct.
| Figure | What it is | Source | Citation Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,700 units | US automotive installations | [A] | High | Preliminary IFR results for the car industry. |
| +10.7% | Automotive year-over-year change | [A] | High | Year-over-year rise in automotive installations. |
| 3,800 units | US metal and machinery installations | [A] | High | Second-largest US customer industry by units. |
| 11% | Metal and machinery US market share | [A] | Medium | A share moves with whatever national denominator a later revision settles on. |
| 2,900 units | US electrical and electronics installations | [A] | High | Electrical and electronics, third among US customer industries. |
Why the numbers disagree
A single US installation total blurs how lopsided the market is. Automotive alone took 13,700 units, more than metal and machinery and electronics combined. A claim about US manufacturers buying robots is, first and foremost, a claim about carmakers and their suppliers.
Share and count tell slightly different stories, and the release gives both. Metal and machinery landed at 3,800 units, which the IFR puts at an 11% market share. Quote the count and the share together, because the percentage depends on the national denominator you pair it with, and that denominator shifts when you switch releases or revisions.
Electronics is the surprise for readers who expect chips and circuit boards to lead automation everywhere. In the US it took 2,900 units, behind both automotive and metal work. The electronics-first pattern shows up in parts of Asia, and the American numbers do not follow it.
How to cite these figures
Cite the automotive figure as 13,700 units, up 10.7%, from the IFR, and describe it as the largest US customer industry rather than the US total. That one word, industry, is what keeps the number from being read as the whole American market.
When you use the 11% metal and machinery share, name the operating year and keep it next to the 3,800-unit count so a reader can see what the percentage is a share of.
If you also quote a national US installation number from another page, say which release each figure came from, because the industry breakdown and the headline national total are published separately and can drift apart.
Where people go wrong
Treating 13,700 as all US robot installations. It is the automotive slice reported in this release, and the country's full total is a larger, separately published number.
Dropping the year on the 10.7% rise, which invites someone to apply one year's growth rate to a different base and get a figure the IFR never printed. A rate of change means something only next to the year and the base it was measured against.
Assuming electronics leads US automation because it leads elsewhere. In these numbers it trails both automotive and metal and machinery, at 2,900 units.
How we checked
We pulled the IFR release on US automotive installations and searched its text for each value we quote: the 13,700-unit automotive figure, the 10.7% rise, the 3,800 units and 11% share for metal and machinery, and the 2,900 units for electrical and electronics.
Because the IFR labels the car-industry results preliminary, we mark that figure High for how safely you can cite it today while carrying the label into the notes, and we rate the 11% share Medium because a share moves with whatever national denominator a later revision settles on.
Every number here comes from one press release, so we did not blend it with figures from other IFR documents. Where a US national total appears on a sibling page, it carries its own source, and we keep the two apart on purpose.
Full source list
Primary sources, with live links. Every figure above traces to one of these.
- [A]International Federation of Robotics2025
Robot installations in US auto industry up 10.7%
https://ifr.org/ifr-press-releases/news/robot-installations-in-us-auto-industry-up-10.7
Common questions
- How many robots did the US auto industry install?
- 13,700 units in the latest operating year, up 10.7%, which made automotive the largest customer industry for robots in the United States, according to the IFR.
- Which industries came next?
- Metal and machinery with 3,800 units, an 11% share, and electrical and electronics with 2,900 units. Both sit well below the automotive line.
- Is 13,700 the total number of robots installed in the US?
- No. It is the automotive share only. The national total is larger and appears in a separate IFR release, so cite the two from different sources rather than treating one as the other.
- Why does electronics rank lower in the US than you might expect?
- Electronics leads robot demand in parts of Asia, but in these US figures it installed 2,900 units, behind both automotive and metal and machinery.
More data, traced to source
- US installed 50,100 robots, a fourth year above 50,000
The US installed 50,100 industrial robots in the latest year, down 10% from the year before but above 50,000 for a fourth straight year, per the IFR World Robotics yearbook. These are installations, separate from A3 order counts.
- Electronics passed automotive as the top robot buyer
The electronics industry took 24% of new robot installations and automotive 23%, so electronics was the largest customer industry again. The margin was thin. This page traces the split.
- Where the world's new robots go: by region and by industry
Asia takes 74% of the world's new robot installations, Europe 16%, the Americas 9%. Within the US, automotive leads at 13,700 of 34,300 units. Where robots actually go, traced to source.